U. S. INVOLVEMENT IN THE VIETNAM WAR AND CENTRAL AMERICA
This paper deals with: (i) the causes of the war between the
United States and the Vietnamese communists; (ii) the outcome of
that war and its consequences; (iii) whether the U. S. was justi-
fied in fighting that war; and (iv) similarities and differences
in the conduct of U. S. military and foreign policy in Vietnam
(1960-1965) and in Central America during the 1980s.
The three principal causes of the war between the United
States and the Vietnamese communists were: (a) the implacable
determination and perserverance of North Vietnam and the Viet
Cong in the South to achieve the forcible unification of Vietnam
under their rule; (b) the conviction of the U.S. government from
1950 áuntil the early 1970s that U. S. vital áinterests árequired
that a communist takeover of South Vietnam be resisted and its
willingness to make a major commitment of its arms and resources
to attain that objective; and (c) political instability in South
South Vietnam, the government of which could not, after 1964,
preserve its independence without massive American involvement.
"Vietnamese history is a continuing story of resisting
invasion mostly by armies from China" (Morrison 4). Vietnamese
nationalism has been fueled for centuries by its generally un-
successful insurrections against foreign rule. Vietnam had final-
ly achieved independence only to see it interrupted by French
colonial rule (1860-1954) during which nationalist sentiments
were suppressed. In 1945, the Vietnamese communists seized
effective control of the nationalist movement. After briefly
holding power in Hanoi in 1946, they took over the North after
ètheir army (NVA) defeated the French at Dienbienphu and the
Geneva Conference of 1954 divided the country at the 17th paral-
lel. A non-communist government under Ng...